Tulsa Mayor’s Proposed Budget Adds 90 New Police Officers

The City of Tulsa is expected to pass Mayor G.T. Bynum's proposed budget in about a month.

Part of it allows the City to hire 90 new police officers who are expected to start this year. It would be the largest one-year infusion of police officers in the history of Tulsa.

Three different academies of 30 recruits each will allow Tulsa to enhance community policing and better address your concerns, and the announcement to use Vision Tulsa money to hire the officers has many on the city council relieved.

"Something that we constantly hear from citizens is they'd like to see more police out on the streets, and this is going to let us do that," said City Councilor Anna America.

Brookside Neighborhood Association president Meg Perdue has called Brookside home nearly her entire life and would like to see more police.

"They can't cover everywhere and they can't do everything," she said.

But with 90 more officers, America is hopeful they'll be there faster.

4/26/2017 Related Story: Tulsa Mayor Proposes $824 Million Budget

She believes they’ll be able to focus more on issues, like addressing traffic concerns.

"We just don't have the officers to deal with that, and that is a huge public safety issue. We've got a lot of injuries and even deaths that occur from that," she said.

America also hopes they can target specific neighborhood threats.

She said, "They don't always have the resources to put a couple of extra people in there to really focus and figure out what's going on."

The additional officers sends a message to Perdue that your safety is important to Tulsa leaders.

"It gives a really nice sense of community," she said.

Perdue hopes that once Tulsans see the city address the core of people's concerns they'll be more willing to support future bonds and city votes aimed at addressing future issues.

"They're seeing the results, they're seeing what our city can do when it's motivated," she said.

The average number of Tulsa police recruits each year has been 32.

The mayor hopes to have all 90 new officers on the street during the coming fiscal year.